Via Daily Kos: the team of Morning Joe are sad because they are forced out of denial on Chris Christie's role in the BridgeGate scandal. Daily Kos blogger Billionaires for Wealthcare notes how painful it is for Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough to come out of their conventional wisdom bubble and face reality.
Reading the headline that Christie never read the statement attacking Wildstein's high school record, Brzezinski asked incredulously, and with dejection in her voice, "how is the possible".
Scarborough jumped in, "there's no way he didn't see it". He went further, saying he didn't believe Christie's claims that he didn't know about the traffic nightmare when it was occurring. He twisted himself into a pretzel saying Christie wasn't behind the traffic jam, but Christie had to know the world's busiest bridge had turned into a parking lot.
Scarborough is still trying to defend Christie but his heart just doesn't seem to be in it. The good news is Christie still has the gang at Fox and Friends backing him.
On Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough came out against the status quo on current gun laws. Scarborough said the Newtown tragedy changed his previous views on gun control.
"I knew that day that the ideologies of my past career were no longer relevant to the future that I want, that I demand for my children. Friday changed everything. It must change everything. We all must begin anew and demand that Washington's old way of doing business is no longer acceptable. Entertainment moguls don't have an absolute right to glorify murder while spreading mayhem in young minds across America. And our Bill of Rights does not guarantee gun manufacturers the absolute right to sell military-style, high-caliber, semi-automatic combat assault rifles with high-capacity magazines to whoever the hell they want.
It is time for Congress to put children before deadly dogmas. It's time for politicians to start focusing more on protecting our schoolyards than putting together their next fundraiser. It's time for Washington to stop trying to win endless wars overseas when we're losing the war at home ... For the sake of my four children and yours, I choose life and I choose change."
If Joe Scarborough doesn't know how to use Google than Politico should fact-check his columns. Scarborough rightly comes out against President Barack Obama's use of drone strikes. Scarborough uses his column to attack the Left for being against President Bush's torture policies, but supporting drone strike. I agree that there are people on the Left that have been silent on the drone strike issue. Scarborough veers off in his column and picks an unlikely target.
"Where are the ladies of Code Pink?" Scarborough wrote.
Well Joe, Medea Benjamin published the book "Drone Warfare: Killing By Remote Control." You can buy it on Amazon.com. Another Google search reveals that Code Pink staged several anti-drone strikes protests in Pakistan. Below is a video of Medea Benjamin being interviewed in Islamabad.
Code Pink has been in Pakistan. Scarborough could have found that out if he bothered to use Google. Scarborough is too intellectually lazy to fact-check his own work.
Scarborough spends the rest of the article defending torture. I can feel my brain cells exploding reading the rest of Scarborough's prose.
As I have said repeatedly, Americans should continue to debate the moral dilemmas caused by interrogation techniques but there is no debate that the techiques used on the Al Qaeda terrorists not only worked, but also been used on thousands of our own military members in SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) courses run by various services. Any graduate of basic training at Paris Island or Fort Benning will probably tell you that what many now consider "torture" (harsh treatment, sleep deprivation or dietry manipulation) is simply a day in the life of a U.S. military basic trainee.
The SERE program was created to teach military personal how to survive against torture. Scarborough fails to understand that simple fact. The techniques used by the CIA "a day in the life" of a soldier. Manadel Al-Jamadi was tortured to death in Abu Ghraib. A Google search would have provided Scarborough with that information. Al-Jamadi's dead body is where Lynndie England took the infamous thumbs up photo. Does ending up in a body bag look like a day in the life of a military trainee to you?
Joe Scarborough Dismisses Early Voting Suppression
Joe Scarborough is one of the most insufferable people on the planet. Which is why Scarborough is has a morning show. That same morning show gets its ass kicked in the ratings by the dreadful Fox & Friends, but that is another story. Scarborough comes off so condescendingly to his co-host Mika Brzezinski. Scarborough attempted to stop Brzezinski from talking about early voting problems in Miami-Dade county. Scarborough then rants on about how attempts to suppress votes are nothing but conspiracy theories. Fellow Republican Christine Todd Whitman knows much more about voting than the uninformed Scarborough. Whitman has harsh words for the way early voting has been handled in Florida.
"I don't know what went on in Florida, but I do have to say that in this day and age, it's inexcusable that in this country, we have anything like this going on." she said. "I've led delegations around the world to watch voting and this is the kind of thing you expect in a third-world country, not in the United States of America."
Whitman is a trained election monitor. I wonder if Scarborough thinks she is a conspiracy theorist. More likely, Scarborough would just put fingers in his ears and keep screaming "Benghazi." I have questions about Benghazi myself. However, I rarely get paid to be a journalist. Scarborough does. I don't expect Scarborough has the intellectual tools to do investigative journalism. It will never occur to Scarborough to travel to Egypt or spend hours trying to get documents leaked to him. Scarborough will just shout "Benghazi" like a little boy throwing a temper tantrum.
Side note: why does Mika Brzezinski put up with Scarborough?
Update: People outside the Miami-Dade county polling station chanting, "Let us vote." Perhaps their minds would have changed if Scarborough lectured them on how their votes weren't being suppressed. Never mind that the polling station temporarily shut its doors.
Stephen Colbert appeared on Morning Joe. Colbert defended Newt Gingrich by saying Gingrich was enough of a Southern gentleman to ask his second wife if he could "bang" someone else.
"Since 1970, executive pay has increased 430 percent while workers’ wages have crept up at a pace that barely kept up with inflation. The average executive’s pay has jumped over that time period to 158 times that of the average worker’s pay in those companies. It’s no wonder that the top 0.1 percent of income earners get richer by the day while millions of Americans are seeing their situations get worse.
"This is not John Wayne’s America. This is Gordon Gekko’s America."
Former U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle steals a page out of Alan Keyes' playbook and bursts into song. Angle gave a speech at a tea party rally. At the end of the speech, Angle sang God Bless the U.S.A..
I doubt Scarborough was left speechless because of Angle's show of patriotism.
If Angle wants to sing in public or prove her patriotism then that is fine. It helps if she can actually sing. Her performance isn't going to change people's views that she is an unserious politician.
MSNBC had a PR nightmare when the network suspended Keith Olbermann. MSNBC is repeating itself with the suspension of Joe Scarborough. Many progressives and Republicans can't stand Scarborough. So MSNBC will not experience the same kind of pressure to bring back Scarborough. Conservative bloggers will make political hay with it. The Pajamas Media crowd hearts won't be fully into supporting an MSNBC anchor who his viewed as a traitor to the Republican Party. Mostly, the Right will accuse MSNBC of hypocrisy if Scarborough's suspension is longer than Olberamnn's.
Does anyone actually believe any of the anchors on MSNBC are nonpartisan? Scarborough and Olbermann wear their political allegiances on their sleeves. MSNBC has a right to enforce it's rules of anchors not giving campaign contributions without consent. It seems MSNBC doesn't want to deal with the backlash or keep anchors off-the-air that help networks make money.
Press release sent out by MSNBC President Phil Griffin.
Statement from Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC:
This morning Joe Scarborough informed me that he made eight contributions of $500 each to local candidates in Florida between 2004-08. In my conversation with Joe two weeks ago, he did not recall these contributions. Since he did not seek or receive prior approval for these contributions, Joe understands that I will be suspending him for violating our policy. He will be immediately suspended for two days without pay and will return to the air on Wednesday, November 24th. As Joe recognizes, it is critical that we enforce our standards and policies.
Scarborough press release.
Statement from Joe Scarborough:
It was recently brought to my attention that I made political contributions over the past several years that are not consistent with MSNBC's guidelines. These contributions were to close personal friends and family members and were limited to local races.
Despite the fact that these races were local and not relevant to my work at MSNBC, I have been told they violated MSNBC guidelines.
I recognize that I have a responsibility to honor the guidelines and conditions of my employment, and I regret that I failed to do so in this matter. I apologize to MSNBC and to anyone who has been negatively affected by my actions.
I gave a number of $500 contributions to my brother and three longtime family friends. These contributions were nothing more than simple acts of friendship. I gained nothing personally, politically, or professionally from these donations.
To be blunt, I had no interest in their campaigns other than being kind to longtime friends.
Because the contributions involved local, non-competitive races--and were given for personal rather than political reasons--I mistakenly believed I did not need approval from MSNBC. I also apologize for that oversight.
After learning of this situation, I called Phil Griffin and agreed with Phil's immediate demand of a two-day suspension without pay.
I am proud to work for the NBC News family. There is nothing more important than maintaining the integrity of its highly respected brand.
I apologize to Phil Griffin, Steve Capus, and my colleagues. This will not happen again.
MSNBC needs to figure out how they want to handle their pundit anchors.
Republican Andy Harris Wants His Government Health Care
Joe Scarborough was right to call ot the hypocrisy of newly elected Republican Congressman Andy Harris for bitching about not getting his congressional health care coverage ASAP. Harris campaigned against President Obama's health care proposal. Harris made this comment in a meeting for newly elected members of Congress.
"This is the only employer I've ever worked for where you don't get coverage the first day you are employed," Harris said, according to his spokesman, Anna Nix. She was quoted by Politico, the Capital Hill newspaper that broke the story.
Bob Woodward talks to Joe Scarborough about the problems President Barack Obama faces with Afghanistan, the CIA and his own military generals. Woodward wrote that Gen. David Petraeus refused to give President Obama an exit strategy for Afghanistan.
Frustrated with his military commanders for consistently offering only options that required significantly more troops, Obama finally crafted his own strategy, dictating a classified six-page “terms sheet” that sought to limit U.S. involvement, Woodward reports in “Obama’s Wars,” to be released on Monday.
According to Woodward’s meeting-by-meeting, memo-by-memo account of the 2009 Afghan strategy review, the president avoided talk of victory as he described his objectives.
“This needs to be a plan about how we’re going to hand it off and get out of Afghanistan,” Obama is quoted as telling White House aides as he laid out his reasons for adding 30,000 troops in a short-term escalation. “Everything we’re doing has to be focused on how we’re going to get to the point where we can reduce our footprint. It’s in our national security interest. There cannot be any wiggle room.”
Petraeus's reaction was, "They fucked with the wrong guy." Petraeus's only strategy was to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely.
"This is a place where you’re supposed to be able to practice your religion without the government telling you can’t."
Charlie Crist, on the Cordoba Initiative mosque to be built near Ground Zero.
I agree with blogger Peter Schorsch. Crist should be appauded for not pandering to xenophobic voters for political gain. Crist has done his share of flip flopping in his career. He has stood (so far) firm on the issue of the Ground Zero mosque.
MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough took on his former caucus leader Newt Gingrich. The latter compare the moderate Muslims building the mosque to Nazis.
"Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington," Gingrich said on Fox News. "We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There is no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center," he said.
Scarborough and former Bush administration official Mark McKinnon were appalled by Gingrich's remarks.
Reflecting on Gingrich's comments, Scarborough didn't know where to begin. "To suggest that someone trying to build a -- a tolerant center for moderate Muslims in New York is the equivalent of killing six million Jews is stunning to me," he said.
"It's stunning and it is so contrary to our country's principle and the Republican party," McKinnon agreed, then added, "I'm glad to see we're together on this and unfortunately I think we may get our membership revoked at the Pachyderm Club."
This tweet by David Dayen is what makes Twitter worth being a part of. Dayen's tweet is aimed at MSNBC host Joe Scarborough (@joeNBC on Twitter.)
RT @JoeNBC Most Americans are like me. / they work three hours a day and get paid btw 4 and 7 million a year
Priceless.
Scarborough writes pretenious tweet about how come everyone cannot be as centrist as him. Scarborough should read his Congressional voting record before he talks about being centrist. Scarborough isn't an insane conservative who spouts conpiracy theories about Obama's birth certificate. Scarborough does deserve credit for condemning the inflamatory rhetoric of Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly. Scarborough is a serious conservative. I take exception when he parades himself as a centrist.
Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas Zúniga has been banned from MSNBC. The reason is a stupid fight Kos got into with Joe Scarborough on Twitter. Scarborough tweeted the White House job offer to Joe Sestak was of Nixon proportions. That was rather overblown but Kos brought up the conspiracy theory about the death of Scarborough's Congressional aide Lori Klausutis.
markos: Like story of a certain dead intern. RT @JoeNBC: Luckily for the White House, the media has been negligent on this story since Day 1.
Kos blogged that he doesn't believe Scarborough is responsible for Klausutis's death. It is in poor taste for Kos to bring up the death of a young woman whom Scarborough knew on Twitter.
Scarborough fired back.
JoeNBC: @markos Unbelievable. You have a long history of spreading lies suggesting I am a murderer. This is the 3rd or 4th time by my count.
I don't think Kos was accusing him of being a murderer. However, there are several crackpots on the internet that have conspiracy theories about Klausutis's. It is easy to see why Scarborough would be so sensitive.
Blog if you must, but here is my on the record statement to you which I ask that you print in full:
Yes, after I became aware of the ugly cheap shot you took at Joe on Twitter, I asked the teams to take a break from booking you on our shows for a while. I found the comments to be in poor taste, and utterly uncalled for in a civil discourse.
I'm hoping this will be only temporary and that the situation can be resolved in a mature fashion, but until then I just don't know how one could reasonably expect to be welcomed onto our network while publicly antagonizing one of our hosts at the same time.
The DailyKos community has been among the most supportive of MSNBC, and we continue to appreciate that support.
I find it fascinating that Twitter has become so powerful that two high-profile political figures and MSNBC can get entangled into a high school-level chat room fight. I don't have a horse in this fight but Kos and Scarborough really need to chill out on Twitter.
Joy-Ann Reid noticed something I didn't pick on in my post of Joe Sacrborough accusing John Boehner of spending more time in bars then working. Politico reporter Jim Vandehei ducked Scarborough's repeated questioning of if Boehner is a hard worker. Mark Halperin confirmed Scarborough's accusation that many Washington Republicans feels Boehner is lazy.
Politico then ran an attack article on Scarborough for his questioning of Vandehei. Politico reporter Jake Sherman ran a quote from Boehner's spokesman Michael Steel that Boehner only goes to Washington bars for fundraisers. Sherman didn't list the candidates Boehner fundraised for in Washington bars.Sherman ran no quotes from Republicans on or off-the-record about Boehner's work ethic. This was an opportunity for Sherman to find out if Scarborough is telling the truth. The only quote Sherman sought out was from Boehner's spokeman.
Sherman's last paragraph slaps down Scarborough for attacking Boehner.
Scarborough and Boehner served in the House together from 1995 to 2001. Scarborough owes at least some of his success to Boehner. The Ohio Republican played a key role in authoring the Contract With America, the 1994 GOP road map that helped bring Scarborough and a Republican majority to Washington.
How dare Scarborough diss Boehner's work ethic. Doesn't Scarborough realize he owes Boehner? Actually, Grover Norquist is responsible for the Contract With America. President Clinton failing to pass health care reform and the political climate in the country had more to do with Scarborough getting elected than Boehner.
To Politico, the story isn't that the House Minority Leader maybe lazy or has a drinking problem. Politico feels they must protect a powerful member of Congress. The same thing has happened with the media reaction to Michael Hastings' article on Gen. Stanley McChrystal. CBS News News foreign correspondent Lara Logan tells Howard Kurtz that the establishment media has a responsibility not to print anything embarrassing of people in power. I am serious.
KURTZ: When you are out with the troops and you're living together and sleeping together, is there an unspoken agreement --
LOGAN: Absolutely.
KURTZ: -- that you're not going to embarrass them by reporting insults and banter?
LOGAN: Yes.
KURTZ: Tell me about that.
LOGAN: Yes, absolutely. There is an element of trust.
And what I find is the most telling thing about what Michael Hastings said in your interview is that he talked about his manner as pretending to build an illusion of trust and, you know, he's laid out there what his game is. That is exactly the kind of damaging type of attitude that makes it difficult for reporters who are genuine about what they do, who don't -- I don't go around in my personal life pretending to be one thing and then being something else. I mean, I find it egregious that anyone would do that in their professional life.
And, I mean, I take that to the point of, even when I plan to interview someone about something difficult, and they want to know the areas of the interview, I might not say, well, we're going to spend the whole interview on this, but I will list that. I will list that controversial issue.
The banter between members of McChrystal's team showed their dysfunction, rowdy drunken behavior and their belief the mission in Afghanistan is failing. Logan believes the American people do not need to know McChrystal and members of President Obama's national security team are war against each other. This is why people do not know why the Afghanistan war is a mess. Logan fails to understand that her responsibility is to her viewers and not the military establishment. The media hero worship of McChrystal is so embarrassing. A classic example is Geraldo Rivera comparing McChrystal to Lou Gehrig. Really? Did McChrystal geraldo ever bat .379 in a season?
RIVERA: This reporter from "Rolling Stone", he was a rat in an eagle's nest. What he did was to become part of the background, part of the scenery, knowing full well, given his political ideology--
O'REILLY: All right, let's walk through.
RIVERA: --and everything else, his altitude, he knew what he wanted to do.
O'REILLY: Okay, I'm not disputing, look--
RIVERA: And I disagree with Chris Wallace. This was not a 280- hitter. General Stanley McCrystal is no 280-hitter. If General Petraeus is Babe Ruth, and I agree with that analogy, Stanley McCrystal is Lou Gehrig.
The Young Turrk has the clips of Logan and Rivera for defending McCrystal.
"I hear it on the Hill, I'm sure you hear it on the Hill all the time, it's not reported, but so many Republicans tell me this is a guy that is not the hardest worker in the world," said Scarborough on Wednesday's edition of Morning Joe. "Every Republican I talk to says John Boehner, by 5 or 6 o'clock at night, you can see him at bars. He is not a hard worker."
Perhaps Scarborough can explain how the failure to pass health care reform in 1993 helped Democrats. Republicans won 54 Congressional seats in 1994. Newt Gingrich called the 1994 electiona a "referendum on big government."
"Hillary Clinton had launched a massive health-care reform plan that wound up strangled by its own red tape," said Gingrich. The Democratic base and poll numbers support the public option. Scarborough ignores polling data and history to pronounce the public option politically bad for Democrats. I hope the GOP keeps listening to people like Scarborough.
"I would like Rush Limbaugh to tell me Mike Barnicle...who's he helping there other than Rush Limbaugh? Because I would tell you middle Americans--Rush is smarter than that--middle Americans that swing elections see that and "Oh my god, Republicans have gone off the deep end."
Joe Scarborough, on Rush Limbaugh celebrating failing to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago.
I really wonder if Log Cabin Republicans understand how much their own party hates them. The Republican Party does not believe gays and lesbians have the right to serve in the military or marry. That does not stop Log Cabin Republicans from backing a party that treats them with utter contempt.
The Sunshine Republicans have condemned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for expressing concern over the tone of the tea bagging protests.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL. -- The Sunshine Republicans – GOProud strongly condemn the words of Nancy Pelosi last week invoking the assassination of Harvey Milk in the 1970s. Pelosi’s statement is unproductive to conversation and hyper-political. While wildly over-dramatizing the nature and spirit of Americans attending tea parties and town halls in non-violent protest, Pelosi’s own rhetoric insinuates that concerned Americans are both anti-gay and irresponsible. That is very dangerous language indeed from the speaker of the house.
Pelosi said, “I think we all have to take responsibility for our actions and our words. This balance between freedom and safety is one that we have to carefully balance. I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw – I saw this myself in the late ‘70s in San Francisco, this kind of rhetoric was very frightening and it created a climate in which violence took place and so I wish that we would all again curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made, understanding some of the ears it’s falling on are not as balanced as the person making the statement.”
The speaker’s remarks appear to be based purely on politics. Despite her alleged concern over political rhetoric, Pelosi has a long history of supporting non-violent demonstration when her own leadership is not in question. The short memory of the speaker neglects to inform you that she herself has encouraged vigorous protest when politically convenient for her own gain. During the Bush Administration for example, Pelosi often encouraged dissenters to speak up.
At a town hall in her home district in January 2006, Pelosi greeted anti-war protestors by saying “I understand your anger” and “I am a big fan of disruptors. Nothing could be more American.” Anti-war protestors approached the stage where Pelosi was addressing the group and held their signs just below the congresswoman. They were warmly greeted, “I’m fan of disruptors&hellip people who make change.” She closed her town hall with reassuring sentiment: “Let’s not question each other’s patriotism when we have this very honest debate that our country expects and deserves.”
Flash forward to 2009. On April 15th, Pelosi described tax day tea parties as “Astroturf” and denied any real grassroots concern over the way government spends our money. Speaker Pelosi joined Majority Leader Steny Hoyer in August to call the continuing protests over a government takeover of health care “anti-American”. She has consistently supported public opposition to any ideas or policies contrary to her own, though she is quick to question the motives of those who speak out against her. Last week, Pelosi stooped to a new low by slyly insinuating that concerned, patriotic Americans might lash out violently against homosexuals as a way of channeling their frustrations.
Not only are the speaker’s words regrettable and completely unfair, they are also alarming examples of exactly the same type of dangerous rhetoric that she supposedly wants to see toned down. The Sunshine Republicans – GOProud call on Pelosi to take her own advice and accept responsibility for her words. We strongly urge her to retract her dangerous and unfounded implications immediately and ask that she clarify that nonviolent protest is a welcome, responsible, and patriotic way to show dissent in America.
The Republican Party of Florida backed the anti-gay marriage Amendment 2. Chris Broughton brought guns to a tea party protest and admits he wishes death on President Obama. Conservative pundit Joe Scarborough warned that Glenn Beck's rhetoric is dangerous.
“You cannot say that the President of the United States … hates all white people. You cannot call the President of the United States a racist. You cannot wallow in conspiracy theories — as [Beck] did for about a month — suggesting that FEMA might be setting up concentration camps and going on Fox & Friends and saying. ‘I can’t disprove it.’ … You can’t stir up that type of hatred … and then say, ‘Oh, I’m just a rodeo clown,’” said Scarborough on his program.
Pelosi was in San Francisco when Harvey Milk and George Moscone were assassinated. The Sunshine Republicans consider Pelosi's concerns "dangerous rhetoric" but say nothing about tea baggers calling the President a Nazi. I'm actually giving the Sunshine Republicans more publicity than they deserve. It amazes me they would attack a pro-gay Democrat to defend the Christian fundamentalists that make up the Tea Party movement.
Joe Scarborough rightfully calls Glenn Beck out for spreading hate. Scarborough is asking other conservatives to condem Beck. Michael Barnicle predicts Beck will eventually crash and burn.
Scarborough contends Beck can't call Barack Obama a racist and then use "rodeo clown" as a defense. Beck may consider himself an entertainer, but he is responsible for his statements and the 9-12 Project.
Via Daily Kos: the team of Morning Joe are sad because they are forced out of denial on Chris Christie's role in the BridgeGate scandal. Daily Kos blogger Billionaires for Wealthcare notes how painful it is for Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough to come out of their conventional wisdom bubble and face reality.
